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The Historical Legacy Of U.S. Military Double Standards Revisited

By Askia Muhammad -Senior Editor- | Last updated: May 24, 2016 - 7:36:54 AM

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Undated image from Twitter shows 16 Black West Point women cadets in uniform with their fists raised. Photo: Twitter via AP

WASHINGTON—The elite U.S. Military academy resisted recent calls to punish 16 Black female cadets who were set to graduate May 21, because of complaints about a photograph of them in a moment of exuberance, in their dress uniforms, with their fists in the air.

The Academy—at West Point, N.Y., where young men and now women have been taught duty, honor, country, principles with which they are expected to lead U.S. forces into combat since 1801—announced May 10 that no punitive action will be taken after an inquiry concluded that the 16 cadets did not violate Department of Defense or Army regulations.

“The inquiry concluded that the photo was among several taken in the spur-of-the-moment. It was intended to demonstrate ‘unity’ and ‘pride,’ according to the findings of the inquiry,” the academy said in a press release.

In addition to concluding there was no violation of any Defense Department Directive, the findings state, “that based upon available evidence none of the participants, through their actions, intended to show support for a political movement.”

But White critics complained. The fistsup image was viewed by some observers who questioned whether the women were expressing support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Army Times, which first wrote about the photo, said that the image had “been shared widely in military circles, with claims the women are supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.” Those complaining said they believed the cadets were breaching a Defense Department policy that says “members on active duty should not engage in partisan political activity,” with exceptions for voting.

The Academy did not agree, but offered guidance in its findings. “As members of the Profession of Arms, we are held to a high standard, where our actions are constantly observed and scrutinized in the public domain,” said Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen, Jr., academy superintendent, in a letter. “We all must understand that a symbol or gesture that one group of people may find harmless may offend others. As Army officers, we are not afforded the luxury of a lack of awareness of how we are perceived.”

This incident is simply a modern reminder of the double standard by which Blacks have always been judged by the U. S. Military Academy ever since Henry O. Flipper—a former slave—became the first Black man to graduate from the school and win a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1877.

After honorable service as a leader of U. S. Colored Troops and Buffalo Soldiers, Lt. Flipper was drummed out of the Army for what may have been a non existent offense.

More recently, Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. Received similar treatment. He was the son of the first Black General in the Army, yet when he attended the military academy himself in 1932, he faced race hatred from his White classmates. During the entire four years of his Academy term, Gen. Davis—who later became the first Black general in the Air Force, was treated with cruelty during his stint at West Point. Few White cadets spoke to him outside of the line of duty. He never had a roommate. He always ate by himself. His classmates hoped that this would drive him out of the Academy.

The high academic, leadership, and discipline standards and the pressure of military life has always been the same for all cadets at military service academies, regardless of race or gender. The first women graduated from all four military academies—West Point, the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md, the Air Force Academy in Colorado, and the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.— in the class of 1980.

These 16 Black cadets in the 2016 West Point graduating class successfully completed that same challenging environment. Their behavior—typical of cadets graduating from the academy, was characterized on first view as “political” or an expression of Black solidarity.

By campus tradition however, groups of cadets often take pictures in traditional dress uniforms to echo historical portraits of previous cadets. Indeed, a different picture of the same women, without the raised fists, was tweeted out by the chairwoman of the academy’s Board of Visitors, 1980 Academy graduate Brenda Sue Fulton.

Mary Tobin, a 2003 West Point graduate and mentor who knows the students, told The New York Times: “These ladies weren’t raising their fist to say Black Panthers. They were raising it to say Beyoncé. For them it’s not a sign of allegiance to a movement, it’s a sign that means unity and pride and sisterhood. That fist to them meant you and your sisters did what only a few people, male or female, have ever done in this country.” The photo showed 16 cadets—all but one of the Black women in the graduating class of 1,000 cadets.

Black women cadets are rarities at West Point, where about 70 percent of students are White and about 80 percent are men, although the percentage of women has been growing in recent starting classes.

If there was any crime involving these women, they are likely to have been the victims of that crime—sexual abuse— according to a distinguished woman who retired after a career as an Army officer. “I’ll just say for young women at West Point and at all military academies, one of the things that they have to watch out for very carefully is the issue of sexual assault,” retired Col. Ann Wright, now a CODE PINK peace activist, told The Final Call.

“Military academies still have a horrible record on the issue of sexual assault of women and perhaps men in the military academy. So for these women to be graduating and hopefully none of them have had to endure sexual assault, I hope, it’s a double victory for them,” she said. A recent Pentagon study found that as many as one in every four female uniform service members will be sexually assaulted during their service career.

Col. Wright became an Army officer through the R.O.T.C. process, at a time, before the first women attended West Point.

In 1972—four years before the first women set foot on the campus as cadets—after a months-long struggle, the Behavioral Science Club at West Point finally secured a speaking appearance by Minister Louis Farrakhan, who was then, the National Spokesman for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

“To you my dear Brother Cadets,” Minister Farrakhan told them, according to a report written by Brother Leroy 23X which appeared in Muhammad Speaks newspaper at the time and now posted online by researcher and Nation of Islam historian, Demetric Muhammad (www.Nationbrothers.com), “don’t be lulled to sleep by the fact that you’re at West Point. There’s no place in the West where you are respected.

“We’re not trying to be smart,” the Muslim leader continued, “we’re trying to level off on the Black man here so that he can stand up and be counted as someone among the respected peoples on the earth.

“You have a commitment to make to your people and that is to advance yourself in such a way that you can in turn advance your people,” Minister Farrakhan said. “The wrong philosophy is to think in terms of individualism. (The Honorable Elijah) Muhammad teaches us that when we gain knowledge, we become the servant of our Brother who doesn’t have that knowledge.”

While West Point is teaching an honor code in a corner of America, Minister Farrakhan continued, according to the report by Brother Leroy 23X, “the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is teaching an honor code to Black men, women and children in every city where Blacks are found. The Muslims do not have a West Point. Their training institution is called Muhammad’s Temple,” Minister Farrakhan told one of the largest on campus audiences at West Point in 1972, which included Brigadier General T. R. Seir, the Commandant of Cadets, and Deputy Commander of the Academy.